This article is an awesome breakdown of the Raps X's and O's under Casey. Everybody keeps focusing on DD, GV, Lowry hero/ISO ball as the main problem, but the real root cause seems to be that this exactly what they are being told to do by Casey. As we saw last night vs. the Bulls, and in the playoffs vs. the Nets, the offense can be shutdown pretty easily when other teams decide to pack the paint. The dribble-drive attack strategy becomes fairly predictable, with no effective counters against good defenses.
Discuss.
http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/13/7...ern-conference
Discuss.
http://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/13/7...ern-conference
The problem with Toronto's drive-at-all-costs offensive approach is that it doesn't lend itself to great fluidity. Toronto doesn't have many players adept at setting others up for shots. Lowry, as brilliant as he is, leans toward the shoot-first spectrum among point guards. DeRozan has improved his reads, but he, like Williams, is a scorer. Vasquez fits the profile, but has become more shot-happy since coming to Toronto. Terrence Ross is a spot-up player without much vision.
All this explains why Toronto is in the bottom half of the league in passes per game for the second straight year and trending downward. Toronto was 17th in total passes and 22nd in assist opportunities last year; they're down to 21st and 29th in those categories, respectively, this season. This is the flip side to being a low-turnover team: fewer passes means fewer chances to throw errant passes, but it also means fewer passes.
This isn't a fatal flaw in the regular season, but it could hurt them come playoff time when teams lock in on top offensive options. The Nets provided a blueprint for opponents in last year's playoffs, shutting off DeRozan's easy passing reads on post ups and forcing Lowry to create offense for himself.
All this explains why Toronto is in the bottom half of the league in passes per game for the second straight year and trending downward. Toronto was 17th in total passes and 22nd in assist opportunities last year; they're down to 21st and 29th in those categories, respectively, this season. This is the flip side to being a low-turnover team: fewer passes means fewer chances to throw errant passes, but it also means fewer passes.
This isn't a fatal flaw in the regular season, but it could hurt them come playoff time when teams lock in on top offensive options. The Nets provided a blueprint for opponents in last year's playoffs, shutting off DeRozan's easy passing reads on post ups and forcing Lowry to create offense for himself.
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